Monday, July 16, 2007

I've been communicating with Andy, a guy who works in basically the same industry as I do. He's a road cyclist with destination and departure points that aren't too far from my own, but his usual route varies from my own quite a bit.

Today, he drove to work and rode his bike home with Chris and I. Tomorrow, he plans on riding to work and bringing his car back home. This is just one of many ways that long-distance bicycle commuters can do multi-modal transportation to reduce the amount of fuel they use, increase the amount of time they spend on a bike, or help the environment. Whatever the motivation, this Drive-bike-bike-drive kind of commuting seems to be a popular method, and it solves the problem of how to get clothes and other gear to the office safely without loading your bike or your back with cumbersome panniers or backpacks.

Andy caught some coverage of my Blog from a link off of The Trek Store of KC, and uses bike commuting to supplement his training routine - it takes the place of some of his after-work training rides.

I know for fact that tonight, I wasn't helping him get any training in. I was SLOW. I let Chris and Andy escape, and I bailed off at the earliest sign of being able to hop onto Turkey Creek Trail. The headwind, humidity and heat were the main factors that really kicked my butt. The wind was hot and humid, brickwalling me and at the same time offering little in the way of relief. Sweat poured down my face and into my eyes. Sweat poured down my chest, back, and arms, drenching my gloves, shirt and shorts. Even riding head-on into 20 mile per hour gusts, the sweat isn't evaporating to cool me off. I keep drinking and progressing. I slow it down even more once I hit the trail, so as to not overheat, and to maximize my time in the shade of tree canopies over parts of the trail.

This is just the beginning of the kind of week we're in for. I am drained of energy right now. I'm hoping for a really good night's sleep to help me recover from this. I'm drinking tons of water right now, and plan on keeping it up at work all day tomorrow as well. I'm hoping that helps.

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